The Bhagavadgita Chapter XII: Bhakti Yoga (The Yoga of Devotion)
1 Arjuna said: The devotees who, with their minds constantly fixed in You as shown above, adore You as possessed of form and attributes, and those who adore only the Imperishable, formless Brahma, - of these who are the best knowers of Yoga?
2 Sri Bhagavan said: I consider them to be the best Yogis who, endowed with supreme faith, and ever united through meditation with Me, worship Me with the mind centered on Me.
3 Those, however, who, controlling all their senses, and even-minded towards all, and devoted to doing good to all creatures,
4 constantly adore as their very self the unthinkable, all-pervading, imperishable, ineffable, eternal, immobile, unmanifest and immutable Brahma, they too come to Me.
5 Of course, the path of those who have their mind attached to the Unmanifest is more rugged; for self-identification with the Unmanifest is attained with difficulty by those who are centered in the body.
6 On the other hand, those who being solely devoted to Me, and surrendering all actions to Me, worship Me (the manifest Divine), constantly meditating on Me with single-minded devotion,
7 These, Arjuna, I speedily rescue from the ocean of birth and death, their mind being fixed on Me.
8 Therefore, fix your mind on Me, and establish your reason in Me alone; thereafter you will abide in Me. There is no doubt about it.
9 If you cannot steadily fix the mind on Me, Arjuna, then seek to attain Me through the Yoga of practice.
10 If you are unable even to take to practice, be intent on performing action for Me; you will attain perfection even by performing actions for my sake.
11 If taking recourse to the Yoga of My realization, you are unable to do even this, then, subduing your mind, senses, etc., relinquish the fruit of all actions.
12 Knowledge is better than practice (carried on without proper insight), meditation is superior to knowledge, and renunciation of the fruit of actions is even superior to meditation; for peace immediately follows from renunciation.
13 He who is free from malice towards all beings, who is friendly as well as compassionate, who has no feeling of meum and is free from egoism, to whom pleasure and pain are alike and who is forgiving by nature,
14 who is ever content and mentally united to Me, who has subdued his body, mind and senses and has a firm resolve, who has surrendered his mind and intellect to Me, - that devotee of Mine is dear to Me.
15 He who is not a source of annoyance to the world, and who never feels offended with the world, who is free from delight and anger, perturbation and fear, he is dear to Me.
16 He who craves for nothing, who is both internally and externally pure, is clever and impartial, and has risen above all distractions, who renounces the feeling of doership in all undertakings, - that devotee is dear to Me.
17 He who neither rejoices nor hates, nor grieves, nor desires, who renounces both good and evil and is full of devotion to Me, is dear to Me.
18 He who is alike to friend and foe, and likewise to honour and ignominy, who is alike to heat and cold, pleasure and pain, etc., and is free from attachment.
19 He who takes praise and reproach alike, who is given to contemplation and content with whatever comes unasked for, without attachment to home, fixed in mind and full of devotion to Me, that man is dear to Me.
20 They who fully partake of this nectar of pious wisdom set forth above, who are endowed with faith and are solely devoted to Me, those devotees are extremely dear to Me.
Thus, in the Upanisad sung by the Lord, the science of Brahma, the scripture on Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krsna and Arjuna, ends the twelfth chapter entitled “Bhakti Yoga” (The Yoga of Devotion)
